After a few block's worth of small talk, and an El train journey of catching up on hospital gossip, they left the El station, relaxed and happy. He realised he had missed her company, over the past year, he had almost lost her friendship amongst others, and knew he wanted, and needed to rebuild some bridges. Abby felt glad to spend time with someone, taking her mind from the worry over her mother and brother.
'Um, Carter, I didn't want to have to be the one to break this to you, but...' She started.
'What? What?' he looked at her, perplexed. She gave him nothing, only stared straight past him, he followed her gaze, across the street where Doc Magoo's should have been.
Ike's was different, not all that different, but it was no Magoo's.
'What the hell happened?'
'Magoo's set on fire'
'When?!'
'I think you were in Africa at the time'
'But, but it was great! There were so many memories'
His little outburst was quite funny she thought, in a childlike way, his upset was quite cute.
'I know, I agree, however, you simply have try the pie at Ike's!'
Sighing, Carter walked with Abby over to the restaurant.
Glancing over at the hospital, he opened the door and let Abby in first,
'Thanks' she smiled .
Carter found that Ike's wasn't too bad at all, the owners seemed to be the same as the Doc Magoo's ones and the menu hadn't changed too much.
'I guess they kept the old menu, they must've known their customers needs.'
They took a seat in the same spot as their old favourite booth.
'I can't believe Susan's still not given birth yet!' Carter exclaimed,
'I know, she's absolutely huge!' Abby said, her eyes shone when she thought of their friend, now on the verge of giving birth, and she flashed a grin.
'It's nice to see you looking so well Abby, I mean, before I went away I noticed it too.'
'what do you mean?' she enquired
'in the past year, you have really changed , for the better I mean, you achieved your dream of being a doctor but also you just have this air of confidence and happiness about you.'
She looked down at the menu, with an embarressment-induced meek smile on her face.
'You are, aren't you?'
'What?'
the waitress came over;
'A coffee please,'
'Make that two' abby went on
'You gonna order anything to eat?'
'I'm not that hungry, but we did mention pie, and I'm in the mood for something sweet.'
'An apple pie please, and two spoons'
'Ok, it'll be over as soon as possible' said the waitress, smiling sweetly, she took the menus from them.
Abby was curious; 'What did you mean just now?'
He was distracted, half focusing on her smile, his mind was elsewhere, he didn't want to go back home, he wanted to stay forever if it meant he didn't have to go back to the Carter family mansion right now.
'huh?'
'You asked me if I was. If I was what?'
'Oh. Happy, you are happy, right?'
She looked up wistfully, taking a moment to think about it then looked at him levelly in the eye.
'Yes, yes I am. I am happy, I haven't been for so long, that sometimes its difficult to tell, but I know now. Things are going well in my job, I haven't had a drink for over a year, and I quit smoking.' Her face was beaming and her eyes shone.
'Good for you!' he felt heartened by her response. It gave him hope, but at the same time saddened him, that he couldn't have given her more help with all these life-affirming changes. They had been together for a year and he had loved her and wanted to help her, but above all he had been her friend, for a long time now, and they had lost a lot of that when he went to Africa. He supposed these were things she just had to do by herself.
They enjoyed a nice evening talking and eating, no further mention was made to Kem or his son, he had asked about her mother and brother though. She was happy to answer his questions, her mother was happy in Minnesota, had a job working alongside an interior designer, at least she was being creative, that's what she likes, Abby had said. Erik had been forced to resign from the airforce after discovering his illness and was staying with a friend in San Francisco, he was temping in various jobs, but he was taking his meds, and that was the main thing.
Eventually they both went home, it was about 11, and Carter was feeling jetlagged, so they decided to call it a night. They parted with a friendly hug. The conversation had been fairly stilted and they hadn't had the chance to say what really needed to be said, however it was the first step in renewing their friendship, and for both of them, it felt good.
